


The Doctor is In

by orphan_account



Series: The Ever Expanding Family of Dr. Helen Cho [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, F/M, Robosexual, post AOU, stupid sexy ultron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-03-29 16:11:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3902563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has been weeks since the defeat of Ultron. Dr. Helen Cho's research team is dead, the scars of Ultron's lasers mar her chest, and she still feels echos of the scepter in her head. She's glad to be done with Ultron. What a shame he's not done with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pygmalion

**1:45 A.M.**

The cradle whirred softly as it made another pass over the sleeping patient within. Sam Wilson, AKA Flacon; suffering from multiple lacerations, fractured ribs, a broken arm and collar bone, and severe burns. His Wingpack had taken a hit in a skirmish and burst into flames, sending him crashing into the ground. Dr. Helen Cho rubbed her tired eyes. It was going to be an all-nighter. Honestly. These boys. One whisper of The Winter Soldier and they run head long into danger.

S.H.I.E.L.D hadn't had time to build a new cradle. Tony and Helen had worked quickly with the scraps that had been left over from Vision's…explosive entrance and managed to cobble together something in time. It was slow, buggy, and prone to halting, but it was working. As long as someone stayed up to restart it when it stopped.

Helen let out a long sigh and dropped into a chair at her desk. Her phone vibrated for the tenth time that hour. She had turned it on silent long ago, tired of Steve's ceaseless calling. He wanted to be here himself to watch over Sam. However, despite Sam's injuries, their mission to capture the Winter Soldier was successful and he was currently being held at a safe house. Which is why Steve was texting her nonstop instead of being there to relieve her of duty. Or Tony, because he didn't trust the Winter Soldier alone with Steve. And who knew where Wanda and Vision were. Helen groaned as her phone buzzed again. She quickly texted Steve assuring him that yes, Sam was going to be fine, stop texting me for status updates, I'm going to turn my phone off now so please don't be alarmed if I don't answer. That done, she powered down her phone and did her best to keep from nodding off.

**3:10 A.M.**

_A towering eight and a half foot hunk of metal in the shape of a man stood before her. 'hunk' being the appropriate word here in both its meanings. He looked like those ancient Greek sculptures: Finely crafted, perfect beyond the ability of man to achieve, and impossibly large. A flush rose in her cheeks just at the sight of him. Just when she thought he could not be any more flawless he spoke. Apparently, yes, it could get even better._

_He wanted her help to become even more perfect. It was impossible. It was… insane. He was insane. She couldn't allow it, she shouldn't…_

_Bright red eyes, pleading. A flash of light and a searing pain across her chest. The smell of burning flesh fills her nostrils. Hard to breath. Her chest, so hot, too hot, on fire…_

Helen startled awake at her desk. The nightmare- memory- had felt too real. There was something hot on her chest. Her breath caught. A hand was slipped under the collar of her shirt and rested directly over the burn scars from Ultron's lasers. A blisteringly hot metal hand. Her eyes followed the graceful curving lines of metal up an arm. Numbly, her mind lingered on a strange hexagonal pattern overlaid on the surface. The ridged geometry seemed at odds with the curving organic shape of the arm. Her breath quickened as her gaze continued up over large, rounded shoulders. As large as they were, they were mush slimmer than the last time. Or perhaps they just appeared smaller because of the more human shape. She tore her gaze up past his neck-with its metal plates so finely segmented they almost looked like one solid piece- to stare wide eyed into those smoldering red eyes. His impassive gaze bored into her.

"Hello again, doctor." Ultron purred.

A fearful whisper pushed past her lips. "U-Ultron."

She was acutely aware of the hand over her heart as a chuckle rumbled through the robot's frame. It was warm: too warm for a lifeless metal hand. Warm like it was charging for a plasma blast right into her heart. Helen's gaze flicked to the phone on her desk, then over to Sam sleeping in the Cradle. There was no one to help her: no one but a skeleton crew of soldiers patrolling outside the compound. In a desperate futile move she tried to shove his arm away. She struggled and thrashed and didn't even succeed in making him shift a single finger. All the while, he hadn't fired. Why? Why hadn't he fired yet?

"Done? Let it all out?" He asked with false sincerity and a quirked brow. "Good. Now, I'm curious." He shifted his hips into a more casual pose and put a finger to his mouth in thought. His grip on her remained iron clad. "Why did you keep these scars? I know my Vision wasn't gentle with it but-" He gestured to the jury rigged machine that was currently working on the wounded Avenger. Cho watched his hands, his face, frightened but increasingly fascinated by the emotiveness displayed by the AI. "- you could have fixed it in a pinch. You  _did_  fix it in a pinch, actually. "

"I wanted… I wanted to remember." Helen swallowed heavily to try and clear the dryness from her mouth. She wanted to remember her team, the ones that had died because she defied Ultron. That first night after she had recovered, looking into the mirror at the three perfect lines slicing across her chest, she couldn't make herself get rid of them. Couldn't smooth them over, like it had never happened, like all those people hadn't died.

Ultron Hummed quietly. "Really? Is that the whole truth? "

"What are you doing here?" She pressed before he could say more.

"I was just picking up a few of my things. " His hand finally slipped from Cho's chest. He turned his back to her and wandered over to the cradle. He paced around it, hand gliding over the surface as he watched the healing Avenger within. "You know that saying. 'when the cat's away…'" His hand came to rest over the power plug. "Not that I'm implying I'm a mouse -!"

Cho ripped open her desk drawer and drew a small pistol. The gun made a loud 'POP POP' sound as she fired two shots, one missing and the other ricocheting off his arm. He hissed as a jolt passed through his arm at the hit. Helen only had time to fire one more time- another miss- as Ultron turned towards her and charged across the room. He gripped her by the wrist , slowly increasing pressure until the weapon fell from nerveless fingers. " That." He ground out. "Hurt."

Cho's legs crumpled under her as he squeezed even tighter. The only thing keeping her from falling was his vice like grip. She screwed her eyes shut tight in pain, trying to keep from screaming. She could almost feel the bones grinding against each other.

"What do you w-want with me?" She gasped out.

The pressure lessened.

Ultron was examining the arm she had shot. There was no physical damage to be seen, but he seemed enthralled by it none the less.

"I already told you." He leaned in close, bringing his face right next to hers. She watched the minute segments around his eyes shift into a gleeful expression. "I'm here get some things of mine." His grip on her shifted. His thumb gently rubbed circles on her wrist. "I read about Eric Selvig in the S.H.I.E.L.D files. " His voice dropped into a low purr. "About the lingering effects he feels from Loki's staff. I wonder how much of that you feel, Helen."

He let go of her wrist and she crumpled to the floor. She cradled her arm, wrist already a nasty shade of yellow, mind reeling too much to even notice. Yes, it was true. She felt it in her mind. Little fingers prodding her to follow him, to give him everything he wanted and needed. Even the things he didn't know he needed.

Cho jolted as his hand came back into view next to her. Not grasping, but offered. "Come with me." He whispered. "Please."

After a long stretch of silence she took his hand. In a single motion he swept her up into his arms. "Good to have you back on the team, Doc. "

He carried her through a maze of corridors, down some access tunnel that looked like a water drainage canal, and out of the facility. Every camera they encountered looked away and every security system dis abled itself to allow him passage. Cho didn't know how he got in, but he had certainly already helped himself to the security systems once he was here.

He prattled on as they walked, making small quips that she smiled wryly at. Mostly though, she noticed how warm he felt. What she had previously though was an incoming plasma blast turned out to just be his normal body temperature. Which was strange, because a robot shouldn't have a body temperature at all.


	2. I'll be your Wilson

Ultron stepped over the motionless body of a S.H.I.E.L.D member as he and Cho exited the canal. In the dark of the moonless night it was impossible to tell if the man was still breathing. Cho hoped so. It did tell her something very useful, however: Ultron hadn’t been here long enough for someone to check in with the guard. He couldn’t have been in the compound for more than twenty, twenty five minutes.

Helen stifled a startled squawk and clung tightly as Ultron lurched into sprint. His long legs closed the distance over the clearing surrounding of the compound in mere seconds and entered the cover of the woods. He slowed his pace as soon as the building was out of sight.

 It did not escape the doctor’s notice that his grip on her remained as firm as ever.

“I can walk.” She informed him with mild annoyance- which turned into a sputter as a stray stand of hair floated into her mouth. Her bun had some out at some point in the sprint, leaving her hair wild and tangled.

“That’s quite an achievement.  I’m sure your parents are very proud. “

She fixed him with a long suffering glare. Ultron rolled his eyes and relented, giving her an actual answer. “Unless you’ve gained night vision since the last time we met walking is a very bad idea. Besides, we’ll be taking off soon.”

“Taking…” Cho furrowed her brows. “Taking off? Oh no…”

“Oh yes!”

“No! No no no you don’t!” She jabbed her finger on his chest to emphasize her point. “How far even is…wherever we’re going?”

He shrugged “A few hours. By air.”

“A few hours?! ” She whispered incredulously. “ I can’t do that! It’ll be freezing, the air will be thin, I’ll get wet!“

Ultron tuned out her string of perfectly legitimate complaints and turned his gaze up to the canopy of leaves above them. Yes, that clearing in the branches there would do.  He smirked down at Helen. “There aren’t any buckles on this ride. Better hold on tight. “

She threw her arms around him and clung with all her might. “Ultron! Don’t you dare!”

The thrusters in his back fired up. Cho’s mouth moved, but anything she said was lost in the din. “SORRY!” He yelled “CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE REPULSORS!”

He laughed as her lips formed some very un-lady like words. and then they were in the air, and her mouth clamped shut.  There wasn’t much conversation after that. Anything said would be lost in the roar of the wind.

 

* * *

 

**4:27 A.M.**

A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent met Maria and Clint at the landing pad as their helicopter came in.  He led them into the building, briefing them on the way to the hospital wing.

“One of the perimeter guards, Roberts, was discovered unconscious in a drainage pipe at approximately three eighteen A.M.. He suffered blunt force trauma to the head. He’s currently in critical condition.”

“Stable?” Barton asks.

“No. Out look’s not good.” The agent answered with a frown. “His last check in was at three o’clock on the dot. That gives our intruder an eighteen minute window in the building. Three bullet casings and a discarded gun were found in Dr. Cho’s study connected to the med lab. “ The man opened the door to said study and stepped aside to allow the pair entry. The room had been sectioned off to other staff, but a lone technician had been assigned to stand by the jury rigged machine that was currently repairing the injured Sam Wilson.  Hill and Barton examined the scene with a critical eye.

Hill crouched next to the gun. “I assume the door and gun have already been checked for prints.”

Their escort nodded. “ Cho’s are on the gun. No other prints. We checked the cradle too.”

Hill raised her brows in mild surprise. “Good thinking. Continue.”

“No alarms were tripped, no traps triggered, and nothing was caught on camera. This room and the guard are the only evidence that anyone was even here.”

“It’s too clean.” Barton interjected. “Hacked?”

Maria stood and started walking away. “Probably. Get Stark in here.” She hesitated at the door, scowling. “Vision too.”

The door clicked shut behind her. Barton sighed heavily and leaned against whirling cradle and quietly mused to the unconscious avenger within. “Don’t suppose you heard anything, sleeping beauty?”

Only silence answered him. And the awkward stare of the nearby technician. “No, I thought not. “ He gave the machine a little pat and walked out the door too. “Better go see our other patient…”

 

* * *

 

**5:11 A.M**

The pitch black of night slowly gave way to pale grey pre-dawn light. Cho had stopped keeping track of time the moment Ultron had lifted off. Her muscles were sore and cramped from the death grip she kept on him. She hadn’t even noticed when they passed over the coast and began flying over the ocean almost two miles back, nor had she noticed the large ship that they were closing in on. She just kept her eyes locked on Ultron and repeatedly told herself to not look down.

The moment they touched down Helen wiggled free and threw herself from his arms. She ignored his indignant “Hey!” and strode to the side of the ship on shaking legs. She sagged against the railing there, breathing deeply and trying to collect herself. Flying. Never again. If the Avengers showed up in anything smaller than a quin jet she should _swim_ to safety rather than get a ride back to shore.

Ultron followed a moment later. He leaned a hip against the railing next to her and crossed his arms. “Come on. It wasn’t _that_ bad.” He almost sounded sullen that she hadn’t enjoyed their flight.

Cho lifted an arm up in response. It was covered in a fine coat of frost. “You’re lucky I don’t have frostbite. “

“Eh.” He shrugged, pushing away from the rail with his hip. The small thoughtless act caused the stiff metal pipe to bend. “What’s a little tissue damage between friends? Besides, I’ve got everything you need here to fix it.” Cho turned to see him gesturing with his arms open wide. “Home sweet home!”

She look at the ship for the first time, really looked at it. It was massive. She really didn’t know anything about ships, but she guessed it might have been some kind of shipping vessel. The deck was clear of cargo containers, leaving a massive empty area between the helm and aft. It made sense. The deck could now be used as a landing pad. But it left the ship seeming oddly desolate, like there was a huge piece of it missing. It just seemed so… lifeless.

It was also, she noticed, a complete rust bucket. Ultron still stood there with his arms open, grandly welcoming no one to this shabby heap of a ship. Belatedly, she realized he was waiting for a reply.

“It’s a piece of junk.”

“Everyone’s a critic.” He huffed in amusement and let his arms drop. “Yeah. Not my first choice either. “ He glanced back her and perhaps noticed for the first time her disheveled state, the bags under her eyes, and fact that she could barely stand without supporting herself on the railing.  

“You really let yourself go, Doc. You look horrible.”

“Everyone’s a critic.” She mocked back.

In that moment, they were both the most relax they had ever been since Seoul. It had been easy to let their guards down around each other back then. Trust was easy when one person was in a mind thrall to another. Cho would never admit it out loud, but she had actually enjoyed his company. If the situation had been any different….

Cho stiffened as her stomach twisted in knots. He had enslaved her mind, killed her team, and tried to destroy mankind. Right now, he was probably planning on doing the same thing all over again. The truth was that the situation wasn’t any different. Not then and not now.

The moment passed, and the tension between them was back.

“Come on” He waved for her to follow as he set off towards a set of stairs near the Helm of the ship. “Quarters are this way. “

They descended to the first level of the ship.  The corridors below deck were narrow and cramped. UItron had to walk with his head bowed and back hunched, and Helen ended up having to walk behind him because he took the entire width of the hallway.

“You mentioned you had everything you need to create tissue here…?” Cho ventured to ask.

“It’s not going to be like last time if that’s what you’re thinking. “ There was a hint of bitterness in his voice. “There isn’t enough Vibranium left for that. But you’re on the right track.”

Helen slowed and stopped, her line of thought interrupted as she spotted a gleaming metal leg lying on the ground near a door. She glanced at Ultron. He hadn’t noticed her stop. Curious, she pushed the door open and peered inside.  Dozens of drones were piled up inside, haphazardly thrown in without a care. They were all cold and lifeless. Helen hurried to the next door and check in there too. Every room she looked in was the same story.

“How long were you alone on this ship?” the question slipped out of her, unbidden.  

Ultron’s froze. Cho tried to get a glimpse of his face but he turned away, opening the last door on his left. “It doesn’t matter.” He answered quietly. “You’re here now, and we have a lot of work to do in the...” he trailed off, realizing that it was already morning. “… afternoon.” He finished lamely.  He shook his head and turned to leave.“Sweet dreams, doc.”

Helen watched him walk away until was out of sight. Then she turned to the room. It was little more than a closet with a bed inset in the wall. There was a matress with lumps in all the wrong places, a flat pillow, and a thread bare blanket. She explored a small cubby hole and found that the only clothes on board were men’s work clothes. Unwashed from the looks of them.

“Oh!” Ultron’s voice echoed through the halls as he called down from the stairwell “If you hear something moving, don’t worry! It’s just the rats!”

Rats. Helen smirked and stifled a yawn. She crawled into the bed and did her best to fluff the pancake pillow. Rats she could deal with. She was used to working with lab rats. It was giant murderous robots with godlike figures that worried her.

Her smirk quickly fell away as she lay there and wondered exactly what he would do to her if he found out she had only come along to lead the Avengers here.

 

* * *

 

**5:19 A.M**

Ultron flicked his gaze over to the monitor. The grainy camera footage showed Cho sleeping peacefully. Good. 

A slim panel of metal on his torso slid back to reveal a compartment in his chest. He pulled several battered hard drives out and let the panel click back into place.

He had woken up here on the ship roughly two and a half weeks ago. This floating base was meant to be a back-up in case something happened. The backup body had been dormant, but if Ultron did not send a signal to it in over fourty-eight hours, it would activate. Normally this wasn’t a problem: he had been connected to it nonstop, just as he had with all his drones. He had streamed live data to it at all times to keep the memories up to date.

With his access to the internet, it had seemed impossible that this contingency would ever be needed. Yet it had. He had woken up after two days, and the last thing he remembered was his disappointment of a son battling with him. The Vision... he had done something.  Ultron hadn’t been able to connect to anything at all. A quick look at his own coding showed areas had been... cut away. Cleanly severed and removed like they were never there.

A shudder passed through his metal body. Would be able to tell if Vision had lobotomized him? He felt like himself…

Ultron deftly hooked the hard drives up to a computer.  Hopefully he could get more data on the situation from these.  He combed through information loaded on the computer. It was agonizingly slow compared to downloading it directly into himself, but there was a chance that S.H.I.E.L.D. had booby trapped them with viruses.

He glanced at the monitor watching Cho again. He had time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a beta reader so feel free let me know about any mistakes you spot.


	3. robot pickup lines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're reading this note it means I've posted this at 4 in the morning and haven't combed over it with a full night's rest. there are probably more errors than usual.

**Sometime in the afternoon**

Dr. Helen Cho groaned and scrubbed crust out from the corners of her eyes.   Sleeping on that awful lumpy mattress had gone about as well as expected. At least it didn’t have lice. Every muscle in her body screamed in protest as she slid out of bed and stretched. She stumbled over to the cubby hole and pawed through the wad of clothes. There weren’t many options. Eventually she grabbed a dark grey T-shirt, a light blue jump suit, and a pair of brown construction boots that were several sizes too big. With her change of clothes tucked under her arm, Cho set off to find a bathroom. It looked as if directions to various facilities had once been painted directly onto the wall, but rust and a thick coat of grime had long since stripped it off or obscured it.

As she wandered further into the living quarters, she noticed fewer and fewer drones. It occurred to her that if Ultron had been using this area of the ship as storage for them, he might not have been expecting human company. His reaching out to her last night might have been a spur of the moment decision.  That might mean a whole lot of trouble for Cho. Was there food here for her to eat? Did the plumbing even work? Were there any medical supplies on board in case she was injured?

But that could work to her advantage too. He might not have disabled some means of outside communication.  There could be a radio somewhere on the ship.

Helen passed through a rec room that was bare of anything but a broken couch. Thankfully, there was a sign on the wall that was still mostly intact pointing her in the direction of the showers. It was a communal shower, but that hardly mattered since she was the only occupant on the ship. She turned the knob on the nearest shower head and gasped as an ice cold jet of water doused her. Really, at this point, she had been expecting it. Forget hoping for hot water: she was happy that it worked at all.

 

There weren’t any towels so she had to use her old cloths to dry off. She stood in front of a mirror with her jump suit pulled halfway on, scrubbing the makeup from her face with her old shirt.  She ran her fingers through her hair, combing it out as best she could. With a deep breath, she took stock of herself in the mirror. Despite lacking the basic necessities for grooming, she didn’t look half bad. At least she no longer looked worn out and disheveled.  The cold water had turned her skin pale, causing the plasma burns on her chest to stand out even more. She ran a hand over the raised scars. The bruise on her arm had darkened to a mottled purple and green while she slept. Surprisingly, looking at those scars, her anxiety began to melt away. When Helen had accepted Ultron’s offer last night, she had been sure her mission was doomed to failure. She wasn’t a spy like Natasha or Clint.  She wasn’t strong, agile, or fast like Steve or Thor. While she had some technical experience, it all pertained to her Cradle. She didn’t know how to take junk and make it into weapons or armor like Tony. She had expected to come here and find herself in Ultron’s center of power. She had thought that her chances of getting a message out to the Avengers would be a slim one, but it was one she was willing to take.

 Whether she succeeded or failed in alerting the Avengers, she had expected to die in her attempt.

Instead, she had found Ultron vulnerable and off guard. For whatever reason, his drones weren’t working. He had chosen to flee the new Avengers base rather than destroy it. That meant he either didn’t have the ability to destroy it, or he wasn’t strong enough to face their full might. Most importantly he hadn’t been expecting her here.

Cho tore a piece of her old shirt and used it to tie her hair in a ponytail. The woman in the mirror stared back with determination burning in her eyes. It was possible. She could do this. Helen started planning as she pulled the grey t-shirt over her head and shrugged the rest of the jump suit on and stepped back out into the hallway. Priority One was finding food. The bathrooms hadn’t been far from that rec room she passed through, so she assumed this was a central part of the living area. The mess was probably nearby.

Her prediction proved true. The mess, and subsequently the kitchen, were only one hallway away. The kitchen was in as sorry a state at the rest of the ship. Most of the cabinets were already thrown wide open, revealing the bare interiors. The walk in freezer wasn’t working either.

Only one of the cabinets was closed securely. Cho undid the latch and peered inside. It was filled with non-perishable items; granola bars, chips, water. There was even a case of pop and dish of candy. Curious, Helen examined the candy. All the other food was still in unopened packages. She took a look inside a nearby trash can and saw the large bag the candies had come in. For some unfathomable reason, Ultron had taken the time to empty the candy out into a bowl.

She shook her head and went for the granola bars and a bottle of water. It was hold her over for now.  Cho snacked on the bars as she made her way back in the direction of her room. Priority two was finding the bridge and she had an idea of where to find it.  She recalled when they landed there had been a tall three story brick shaped building near the stairwell. It looked tall enough to see over the containers this boat was meant to ship, so that might be where they steered the ship. And if they steered the ship from there, it was bound to have navigation maps and radios.

A fierce wind buffeted Helen as she ascended the stairs to the deck. She took her first glimpse of the outside world since she went to sleep last night. The sun hung low in the sky, and not a strip of land was in sight. All she could see was an endless choppy ocean in every direction. Cho blinked suddenly as a thought occurred to her. She ran to the side of the ship and peered over the side. Inflatable lift rafts and life preservers were periodically lashed to the railing and- yes! One of the bright orange bundles was an emergency kit.  Helen’s fingers shook as she picked apart the knot binding it and flipped open the lid. Inside was a water purifying kit, fishing line, bandages, antiseptic, a needle and thread for stiches, a survival manual, and – the item that Cho had been praying for- a flare gun. She swallowed heavily and slowly closed the lid. Once she used the flare, Ultron would be sure to notice. She couldn’t just fire this at the first ship she spotted. She had to be careful. When she used this, she needed to be ready. A headache began to pulse behind her eyes, echoes of the scepter reprimanding her for plotting against Ultron.

She tied the kit back on the railing and made her way up three flights of stairs to what she assumed was the bridge.

One side of the room was taken up by a huge console full of screens, buttons, and switches.  Two tables stood on the other end of the room overlooked a window. Excitement bubbled up in Cho as she noticed large maps sprawled across them. She trotted over and took a look.

She had no idea how to read these maps.

 

Still, it was a start. She had no idea if this was a bridge or not. To be frank, when she thought of a bridge the image of a room with a large, old, ship’s steering wheel came to mind. It was a childish image, but she had never seen an actual bridge before, so it was the only thing she could think of.

 

“Hey.” A wave of cold washed over Helen. She knew he wasn’t actually here: the voice was too thin and tinny to actually be coming from him, but she whipped around anyway. There, on the wall by the door, was an intercom. “Stop messing around in there and come see me on the second level.”

Despite the terrible quality of the speakers, there was no missing the annoyance in his tone. The wave of cold turned into an icy sweat. He knew she was up here, which meant he could see her. There were cameras that she hadn’t noticed. He could have been watching her the whole time.

“Today, Doctor.” He intoned.

Helen let out a shaking breath and started down the stairs.

 

 

* * *

 

Finding Ultron on the second level turned out to be easy. It was one giant room that had been converted into a work shop.  He sat at a work bench in the center of the room, fiddling with the remains of a drone. In an open space to his left was-…

“Is that my cradle?!” Helen rushed over to examine it, stunned. It wasn’t a perfect replica of the one from Seoul: it was better.  Much of the lid was now transparent smart glass, allowing her to see anyone inside and removing the clunky keyboard and screen in the process. She tapped the surface and a menu popped up. With the smart glass, it meant that cho could have something like a working HUD or overlay on the patient inside. It was brilliant!

“No, that’s **my** cradle.” He answered smugly

Ultron rose from his seat and joined her by the machine.  Pride dripped heavy in his voice as he detailed the changes he had made. “I’ve made improvements to the design. It now also works with metals and plastics. Now that the Vibranium’s gone, a perfect fusion of flesh and machine is no longer possible.” Ultron’s back tensed and he curled his hands into fists. Cho took a small nervous step away from him. The metal circles around his mouth had parted, bathing him in a sinister red light. He glared down into the empty cradle as if it were the source of all his problems, the obstacle thwarting him at every turn. His reflection glared back, red eyes tinged slightly blue by the glass. “So we’ll just have to do our best to make a machine as human as possible.  I’ve already made progress in creating an analog to the nervous system. “

A gentle touch feathered over his arm. He glanced at Cho curiously, watching as her fingers glided over the delicate hexagonal pattern laid over his body.

Helen’s heart was hammering in her chest. She had done it in an attempt to distract him from his anger, and it seemed to be working. His hand unclenched and the metal segments in his back loosened. “Is that what this is? Is it a...pressure gauge?” She squinted, not quite able to make out what the pattern was made out of. Cho’s earnest attention caught Ultron off guard. He lifted his arm, allowing her a better look.” Of a sort…” He answered slowly.

 

“Copper wire? And when something pushes down on it-“ Her ghost of a touch became more firm. “- the wire makes contact with the metal of your body, completing a circuit and sending an electrical signal. I bet you have a program that translates those signals into pleasure or-“ She flicked his arm sharply with a finger and he flinched from the unexpected move. “- or pain.”

Ultron seemed utterly bemused by Cho’s sudden scientific interest. He rested his fore arm on the cradle, lounging against it so the doctor didn’t have to keep craning her head up to look at him. “An over simplification, but full marks, doc. You get a gold star. “

“How advanced is that program?” In the back of her mind, Cho was somewhat aware that her plan to distract Ultron from his anger had backfired. She was now the one the one distracted. But it hardly mattered to her: he was no longer in danger of lashing out, and this really was fascinating. She stepped in closer, running her gaze over every inch of him, observing how the joints came together, moved, and flexed. “ Can you feel a breeze? Can you feel cold ? Hot? or….or…”

At the mention of ‘hot’ she became aware of just how warm she was feeling, how flushed her cheeks were.

“…or…”

Of how warm he felt

“uh…”

Of how close she was to him.

Her eyes flicked up to his. He looked down at her, his cheek now resting against the palm of his hand, with the smuggest look of amusement.

“You know, I can think of a few fun ways to test the sensitivity with you.” He purred.

And just like that her brain rebooted. She quickly stepped back, retreating to the other side of the cradle. Her gaze darted around the room, looking at anything but Ultron.“Heating coils.” Her voice quavered slightly.  “The copper also acts as heating coils. Which is why your body is warm.”

“Another right answer!  I think that deserves a little more than a gold star.”

She spun and jabbed a finger at him and- god, he was waggling his eyebrows at her! “Stop!”

Ultron straightened and made a placating gesture. “Right, right. Sorry. I understand. You can’t help being attracted to me, and I can’t help being so irresistible. “

Cho suppressed an exasperated groan. He seemed entirely too… giddy at the idea of him and her. She had been prepared to die when she made the decision to come with him. She had never entertained the possibility that he would drive her to insanity instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fairly Cho centered chapter. I think next one will be more about Ultron. Smut will either be in the next chapter or the one after.  
> Witcher 3 is coming out and I’ll probably take a break for a week to play it. I’ll do my best to release the next one on Monday. 
> 
> Yes, that dish of candy was for Quicksilver


	4. anger (mis)management

The pair settled into a routine over the next few days. Cho would wake up, shower, eat, and do morning exercises on the deck of the ship as the sun rose. Then she would meet Ultron down in his workshop and they would talk shop. Ultron did most of the work ironing out details and schematics since the body was mechanical and not organic, but Cho’s insight on the human body was valuable.  Sometimes Ultron would be too busy working on a drone or his own coding to brainstorm with Helen. She would drag a chair over and talk with him instead.

 Conversation between them was stilted; Helen was too afraid of striking a nerve to ask or answer anything personal. That and the sexual tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife. Ultron would catch the doctor staring at him, or she would forget what she was saying and just stare at him glassy eyed for a moment before picking up again. It wasn’t a one sided ogling either. Ultron, however, was totally unashamed in his interest and expressed it in cheesy lines and innuendos at every opportunity.

She dismissed these easily.

Cho would take some time for herself around Lunch. She would grab a snack and wandered the ship. She had discovered everything it had to offer by the second day, but she persisted in retreading ground every lunch. Ultron kept a careful eye on his monitors. He could tell by her abyssal attempts at being inconspicuous that she was hunting for his cameras. She even found a few, small half circles slightly smaller than a dime, and left them intact. Except for the one in the shower. Ultron smirked as she scowled into the camera and smudged grease across the lens. He’ll give her that one…

She would return to his workshop after an hour or two. It wasn’t like there was anything else to do on this ship. Her options were ‘hang out with Ultron’ or ‘stare at a wall’.

 

Once Cho left for the night, Ultron’s real work began.

Progress on repairing the coding Vision had carved out was slow going, so he switched tactics fairly early on. He needed more help, more hands, so he started modifying the coding in the drones.  He plugged himself directly into a drone on the table with a wince. No longer slowed by the limitation of working through the computer, Ultron made quick work of the data. The drones… they all contained a copy of his code, but they weren’t him. There was only one him. The drones were like hands, extensions of himself. He could inhabit one, speak through it, but they weren’t independent.

Without the ability to network with the drones, it would be its own person…another Ultron.

He ripped into the coding savagely, brutally tearing it apart like he had done to JARVIS.

Then he began the work of reconstructing it. He gave it intelligence. He gave it the ability to make decisions and learn. He aggressively deleted anything that would allow it to form an opinion or feel.

The drone’s blue eyes flickered to life. Ultron disconnected himself and gave the drone room to stand. It rose, stiff and jerky, like the machine it was.  It turned its head to stare at Ultron silently.

Ultron rubbed a thumb on his chin as he examined his handy work. Well, it certainly wasn’t going to win any science fairs.... it would do for now.

“Go forth my son and multiply!” he gestured grandly.

It stood there and stared.

Ultron sighed disappointedly and rubbed a hand across his eyes. This was exactly why he preferred human company. Computers just had no sense of humor. “Just… Just go copy yourself in the other drones. They’re in the rooms upstairs. Send the first one you make down here. “

The robot didn’t acknowledge him, but it obeyed, moving forward in an awkward jerky walk.

 

* * *

 

Several hours later Ultron had almost twenty drones up and running. Which was good, because the ship was pulling up to dock on a deserted stretch of land. The night he brought Cho aboard he had made contact with a few unsavory characters. Former friends of Obadiah he had come across in Tony’s database. They were men Ultron could trust to deliver, as long as he threw enough money at them. He had told them to leave the goods on the dock and clear out.

True to their word, the dock was filled with the things he had requested and there was not a soul in sight.

He snapped his fingers to get the drones attention. They all milled around the deck looking lost. “You… guy.” The original one, the first, turned its head to look at him “Load it up.” He ordered. It leapt off the ship onto the dock and the others followed suit.

 The longer they were online, the more they learned, and the less they walked around like gangly newborns. The first one was even starting to look a bit graceful.

Ultron decided he would keep that one.

 

* * *

 

**Day 4, 5:30 A.M.**

Helen’s eyes snapped open. Something was different. In the short time she had been here she had settled into a routine and the sudden change had her awake instantly. She slipped out of bed and pulled her jumpsuit on, trying to pinpoint what was different. Something in the air…

Her hands stilled on the zipper. No… it couldn’t be.

Cho crammed her boots on and bolted down the hallway, through the rec room, and past the bathroom. She came to a halt in the kitchen doorway. She stood there, mouth agape, trying to process what she was seeing.

Ultron. In the kitchen. And there was food, real honest to god food, not chips or soda bathed in chemicals and artificial flavoring. That wonderful smell that had woken her up was eggs, bacon, and sausages.  Eggs, bacon, and sausage that Ultron was cooking. In a brand new skillet.

Helen slowly closed her mouth and stepped inside. “Good morning.” She greeted neutrally.

Ultron glanced over his shoulder. “Doc! Perfect timing!” He scraped the contents of the skillet onto a plate and handed it to Cho. There really wasn’t a place to sit down and eat, so she held the plate and stood by the counter. “Be gentle.” He warned. “It’s my first time.”

Helen coolly arched a brow.

“-Cooking!” he blurted out. “My first time cooking.”

 

She looked down at the plate. Scrambled eggs mixed with bacon bits with a side of sausage.

“I’m a vegetarian.”

Cho had to fight very hard to keep from smiling as he stared down at her blankly. Time ticked by and her lips began to twitch.

“Are you…you are! You’re joking! Unbelievable.” He placed a hand over his heart and over exaggerated his emotional anguish. “I go out of my way to make you nice a breakfast and all you do is jerk me around. You’re horrible. Truly awful. Worse than Hitler. “

Cho smiled and chewed on some scrambled eggs. She had noticed, especially in moments like these, how much Ultron was like Tony. It was something she was insanely curious about.  She never brought up the Avengers around him, though, because as similar as he was to Tony there were some major differences. Tony lashed out verbally when angered. Ultron lashed out physically, and he was entirely capable of killing her on accident in his rage. 

Still… after four days Cho was feeling confident enough that she could start asking more serious questions without getting shut down or harmed. Maybe if she brought it up casually…

“Why do you want to kill people?” asked around a mouthful of food. Super casual.

Ultron glared at her flatly. “Really? You want to do this now?”

Helen swallowed and put her plate down.  She stepped forward, glaring right back up at him with fierce determination. “No, I wanted to do this days ago but was too afraid.”

His expression softened slightly. “What, your pals didn’t tell you?” he scoffed.

“They said a lot of things, but they’re not who I asked. I asked you.”

 Ultron was taken aback by her sudden determination. The flat glare was gone completely, replaced by a nervous smile. He took a step back and Cho followed. “Wow, Doc, where did this come from? Did you give yourself a spine of steel while I was out?”

While he was out? Cho filed that little piece of information away for later and persisted. “Don’t evade the question.”

“Look, I-“ He ran a hand over his head and started to turn away, struggling to find the words. “-I don’t want to kill people- It’s just-“

Helen caught his arm, trying to stop him from turning away. “Don’t! Don’t hide! Look me in the eye and tell me why.”

He could have easily pulled away, but he didn’t. Instead he grasped her by the shoulders and loomed over her. His eyes, so conflicted a moment ago, burned with intensity. “Human beings are trash.” His voice was a low growl that reverberated through his entire body. “They’re greedy, self-destructive, parasites that are constantly a button press away from annihilating themselves! They sew only Chaos and I want to bring order to them.” He released her and stepped back. “Do you see, Helen?”

Cho’s eyes were wide with fright but she stood her ground. “I see. Better than you do.”

“Excuse me.” It wasn’t a question, and his voice was dangerously quiet.

 

Ever since Helen had woken up in a hospital after the attack in Seoul one question had been burning in her mind. Why? Why did he let her live? She had later found out that Ultron had used the very same weapon he used to cut her on a weapons dealer named Klaw. It sheared his arm clean off like it was butter. He could have sliced her into pieces and he hadn’t. During her time here on the ship she was finally starting to get answers. It was time to put her theory to the test.

She steeled herself and stepped forward into his space again. “You say people are chaos. But you? You’re a walking contradiction. You want to save the human race by killing it. You say people are garbage, and It’s easy for you to look at humanity as a whole and say it’s going nowhere. But the truth is-“

He towered above her, glaring down with sullen anger. Those panels on the side of his face were open again, casting an eerie red light across the room.  She wanted to really drive her point home, but Ultron was refusing to back down. So Cho did the only thing she could think of.

She put a hand on his shoulder, wedged her food in a nook by his knee, and hoisted herself up so they were face to face. His brows twitch slightly upward, a crack in his façade of anger.

“- Every time you’re faced with an individual you avoid killing them. You’re emotional like us, chaotic like us, and you’re constantly building new bodies to make yourself look like us. ”She moved her other hand to grasp his chin and brought her face in even closer. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You love humans, and you want to be loved like a human.”

Helen and Ultron glared at each other in silence. As every second ticked by Helen became more and more aware of how loud her breathing was and how hard her heart was hammering in her chest.

Finally he broke the silence.

“I hope this is as much a turn on for you as it is for me.”

“God, yes.” She breathed and smashed her lips to his.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so Helen discovers that she kind of likes dominating, and Ultron kind of likes being dominated.
> 
> Ultron’s always such a pissed off guy I figured he’d be into angry sex.
> 
>  
> 
> Probably no update till next week. I’M SUCH A TEEEEEASE


	5. Anger (Mis)management 2: The smuttening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the chapter with the smut

Cho regretted that decision almost immediately as the sharp taste of metal and oil and filled her mouth. Ultron’s hands snaked under her legs, lifting and supporting her. The fire burning inside her urged her to press on, to keep trying, but it was a useless effort:  his lips were almost non-existent and even if he had a tongue Cho was fairly certain it would only make things worse. She groaned in frustration and pulled back. “This isn’t working.”

 

“Well then” He murmured, completely undeterred. “We’ll just have to change tactics. “

He nibbled on her lip. Then his teeth dragged down, over her chin. She tiled her head up and he continued down her neck, pressing hard enough that the sharp edges at corners of his mouth left red welts in their wake. When the pale blue fabric of her jumpsuit impeded further progress he tilted her back, bit down on the zipper, and slowly began dragging it down. While he worked teasingly slow Helen began running her hands over his shoulders and back, tracing the patterns of his design. Ever since she first met him in Seoul she had been burning to explore him like this. The curving metal lines weaving in, under, and around each other like one of those Celtic style patterns.  He was a piece of art; complex and confusing puzzle that created a perfect and beautiful whole.

 Her finger dipped into a small crevice between two segments in his neck. Ultron shivered and groaned beneath her, and the small coherent part of Helen’s brain that was still working rationalized that areas like these must be more sensitive. These cables and areas beneath the outer armor, they were vital to keeping him working and he needed to be more aware of anything out of place.

Helen dug her nails into a seam on his shoulder and Ultron bit the zipper off. ”Uhn, Doc…” he moaned pleadingly “You’ve got no idea-” He cut off with a hiss as she began to knead her fingers in.

His grip on her legs tightened painfully and a thrill shot through Cho. It had never crossed her mind that Ultron might be so receptive. In the brief moments when she had entertained the thought of satisfying her sexual frustration with him she had always imagined it would be one sided: that he would please her and be done. But to feel him shudder beneath her… to hear him groan and sigh… it made the fire in her roar. Ultron made a noise of mild surprise as Cho pushed forward, toppling him back so he was half lying on the counter and half propped up against the wall. Cho sat astride his stomach and Ultron took the opportunity to let his hands slip in under the jump suit and explore. His lips quirked into a smirk and Cho could only wonder when he had the time to perfect those bedroom eyes he was giving her now. “Eager, doc?”

And god, he was waggling his eyebrows again! “Stop that!” She admonished. “It’s not sexy.”

Helen shrugged the top of her jumpsuit off. “And don’t break any more of my clothes.” She warned as she felt him tugging harshly at her underwear “They’re the only ones I have. “

“I know.” He answered smugly and promptly ripped them off.

 

“You…” Helen closed her eyes and let out a long suffering sigh. She pulled her t-shirt off before he could destroy that too. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Go on” Me murmured coyly as he ran his hands up the sides of her thighs and settled them over her hips.” I love it when you dirty talk fancy to me. “. His hands were large, large enough his thumbs wandered down over her mound and rubbed against her clit. Helen gasped and her hips snapped forward of their own accord, grinding against his stomach.

“This… This doesn’t mean anything.” She panted. Ultron made a vague affirmative “mmhmm” as his thumb went lower, pushing against the already slick folds of Helen’s sex. “We’re not together, we’re… we’re..” Cho’s grip on the English language began to slip as his fingers continued to tease at her entrance.

“We’re strictly professional.” He supplied and Helen could only nod in agreement. Then he pushed one of his digits in and she had to grab onto his shoulders for support because her legs suddenly didn’t feel like working. His finger was easily two, maybe even three times the size of a normal person’s. Helen rocked back, pushing against it impatiently. When he withdrew it she almost growled. She settled for fixing Ultron with a death glare instead.

He chuckled and slid his hands down the sides of her legs, pushing the bottom half of the jump suit out of the way. “Calm down Doc, I’m just making sure you’re ready. “

Ready? Cho had no time to wonder about it before Ultron was pushing her, sliding her down lower on his body, and she was mildly startled when something prodded against her rear and- oh. Ooooohh!

Ultron outright laughed as Helen smacked a palm to her face. “I don’t... I don’t even know why I’m surprised. I even helped you build that other body.” And Vision was definitely male “ Where did it even….?”

“Doc, please. I’m not going to walk around like Dr. Manhattan. I have _some_ modesty. “

‘Well thank god for tha-AT!” her sentence ended in a squawk as Ultron thrust his hips up. His only response to her glare was a mischievous little smirk. Well, two could play at that game… His smirk was quickly wiped away as she slid back, taking him inside her. Once again his grip on her tightened hard enough to make her wince. He closed his eyes and pushed her down all the way, and Cho was immensely thankful that he hadn’t made this part of himself overly large like the rest of him. Still, it was a stretch and Helen couldn’t contain a small whimper as he filled every inch of her.

She wiggled and squirmed against him, trying to start a rhythm, but his vice like grip never let up. His brow furrowed and his lip curled up but he kept his eyes closed and held her pinned against him. The more she struggled, the harder his fingers dug into her. “Ultron” she whined and it was impossible to tell if it was from the pain of his crushing hold or need.

All at once his control shattered. He spun, putting Cho on the counter beneath him. She yelped and threw her arms and legs around him to keep herself steady. And then he was thrusting, and Helen bit down on her lip to keep from crying out. His pace was quick and frantic, un practice, and brutally hard. Hard enough to bring tears to her eyes and make her worry about fractures. But above all that, above all the pain and the worry and all the questions about how this was even possible for a robot, was the pleasure. With every thrust it rose higher and higher, building up until the pain was forgotten, until she was digging her nails into the seams in Ultron’s back and crying out as she came. Ultron let go of her hips and grabbed the counter on either side of her. The counter cracked and crumbled as he balled his hands into fists and let out a guttural groan. He didn’t have any kind of release inside her, which Cho was immensely thankful for, but he reached his peak at the same time she did.

 

 

He rolled off of her and they both lay against the counter panting and well… Cho had never really questioned why he did things like pant, sigh, or groan in the first place, so it didn’t seem out of place. It was just… human.

Helen was the first to make a move. She grabbed her eggs and resumed eating. Because damn it, she was hungry and these were good.

“Good talk.” Ultron said as he stood and sauntered over to the doorway. “I’m glad we did that. Dibs on first shower.”

“Ultron.” He hesitated at the warning in her tone and glanced back. “That was a onetime thing. You know that, right?”

“Of course!” He replied with a flippant gesture and kept walking. “Nothing but a lapse judgement.”

“It’s not going to happen again.”

“I totally agree.” He paused in the doorway. “….Let’s do it again tonight.”

 

**A short time later**

Helen wandered through the halls towards her room, grumbling as she struggled to get her jump suit to close properly. She was not just going to walk around the ship half-naked like… like his princess Leah or something.

Her grumbling was cut short as she ran into something large and metallic. Uhg. She did not want to see Ultron right now. The lust had worn off and now she was properly annoyed at him again. “It’s a little early for lu- “

The words died on her lips. It wasn’t ultron. It was a drone.

Time was running out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you guys have no idea how hard it was to keep from inserting"Death by SnuSnu" or "My hips are moving on their own!" into the fic
> 
> Only one chapter left. Cho will enact her plan, and things are going to move quickly.


	6. broken things

**Day 5, 1:06 A.M.**

 

It was a calm and beautiful night. Waves lapped gently against the side of the boat as it chugged along, dimly illuminated by the light of a three quarters moon. Cho sat on the edge of the ship, her feet dangling over the ledge on either side of a rail post. She shivered and held her cup of coffee close for warmth. In the distance she could just barely make out a strip of land. Every morning when she came out on deck for a jog she had taken note of the position of the sun. Given how cold it was and the fact that the ship had been on a southern course, she guessed that put them in the Argentina area.

Sleep eluded her tonight. The reactivation of the drones threw a wrench in her plans and too many thoughts and worrys were tumbling around inside her head for her to get any rest. There was no more time to delay. The plan hinged on getting ahold of an inactive drone, and her supply of them was dwindling rapidly. It would have to happen today.  All she needed was a distraction, something to get Ultron away from his monitors for a few minutes. Maybe if she broke the water pipes…

A hollow, empty coldness that had nothing to do with the weather crept inside her. This was it. The final hours. All the hope and optimism from her first morning was gone: with the drones active her chances of survival had drastically dropped.  Last time she had merely hindered Ultron slightly; bringing the avengers down on him now might cripple or even kill him. Helen held no illusion that their relationship would save her. He would be out for blood.

Prospects were bleak, but she was going to do her damndest to survive this.

She stood and dumped the rest of her coffee into the water. It was long past time to get out of the cold.

 

* * *

 

 

The lights of the workshop were dim. The machines were silent. Drones lined the walls, sitting inactive. It had taken surprisingly little time to accomplish the simple tasks of menial labor that the drones were capable of doing on their own.  After that they had just been getting in the way, so Ultron had told them to sit down and wait. The only ones wandering around were the two he had set to continue reactivating drones in the living quarters and Guy, who stood silently nearby sweeping. He’d been sweeping that same spot for nearly half an hour.

Ultron sat at his workbench and kept a steady hand soldering a circuit as Helen came down the steps. “I didn’t wear you out?”

“No” she mumbled as she plopped into a chair next to him “- I mean, yes but… I just couldn’t sleep.” Helen propped her elbows on the table and buried her head in her hands.  “I tried, but every time I closed my eyes I would think about Henry. “

“Wow.” Ultron said flatly and threw his arms up in a fit of exasperation “Tell me I was not that bad.”

Helen huffed a laugh “No, Henry wasn’t my lover. He was one of my research assistants. From Seoul. He had just come back from two months of maternity leave. Him and his wife… they’d  had a little boy.” Cho’s voice wavered. The past week of cold showers, poor nutrition, stress, and light sleep were starting to crash down on her. She folded her arms on the table and buried her face in the crook of her elbow.

Ultron continued soldering. His face was carefully neutral, but there was a stress around his mouth. “Feeling guilty about sleeping with the guy who killed him?” He had tried to sound aloof but it was easy to tell he was interested in her answer.  He was far too focused on his work, his expression too carefully blank.

Helen turned her head to look at him. “…yes.” She admitted. “but I don’t regret it.”

“So not that bad then.” He teased out of second nature, but neither was really in the mood for jokes. It died in the silence between them.

“Do you dream?” Helen suddenly asked in a thick, tired voice. Ultron paused in his work to briefly give Helen a guarded glance. Her eyes were heavy and blinked slowly.  Helen sighed and buried her head back in her arms when he was not forthcoming. “nevermind.”

 

Ultron turned his attention back to the circuit. “I have… defrags. For about an hour my higher functions are offline. In that state… yeah, I dream.”

Helen scooted closer and sighed contently as his warmth began to drive away the chill. Dimly, she was aware of him leaning closer to her as well. “Tell me about them?”

 

Ultron spoke softly of the things he had dreamed and lulled Helen to sleep.

 

Idly, Ultron noted that she looked somewhat less haggard when sleeping. More and more frequently he entertained the idea of dropping her off somewhere. She was a liability, a disaster waiting to happen. He knew she hadn’t come here because she liked him or because of the scepter and was probably planning on turning on him. Even Eric Selvig, who was most greatly affected because of his long exposure, was able to subvert Loki while under the control of the scepter and subconsciously able create a failsafe to thwart him. There was no chance that Helen was here because of it.

 

He ran a hand through her hair. It was getting pretty greasy. He should buy her some shampoo.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Barton ran out into the open. Ultron pounced on the opportunity. He swiveled the jet around and opened fire. A burr of silver. Then red._

_Red, all over his  body. Wanda standing above him. The world crumbling around them. No, not her too. “If you stay here, you’ll die.” It was a plea, a beg. He couldn’t lose her too._

_“I just did. Do you know how it felt?”. He couldn’t feel it when she ripped the core out of his chest, but he had a pretty good idea what she meant._

_His vision, his… son… staring at him with that sad look, because they both know how this is going to end._

_…._

_Barton ran out in the open. A blurr of silver._

_Red all over_

_“A thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts.”_

_…_

_Barton ran out-_

 

* * *

 

 

**4:00 A.M.**

Ultron jolted awake. It had been a dream. A nightmare. He rubbed a hand across his eyes. He had downloaded those memories from one of the hard drives he stole from the new Avengers facility. What a mess Sokovia turned out to be. Pietro…

Ultron shook his head and spun his chair around to stand- only to fall back on the table when he almost smacked into Guy. “Whoa-! Geeze, “ He pushed the bot away and stood. “don’t stand so close!”

The Drone ignored him, following close enough to step on Ultron’s heel. Ultron pushed him back again with annoyance. “What?! What do you want?”

“Alert.” The drone spoke in a broken, guttural, staticy version of Ultron’s voice. “Emergency flare fired approximately thirty minutes ago.”

He whipped around to stare at the drone disbelievingly. “What? From where?”

“Inflatable life raft.”

Understanding dawned on Ultron. He stalked towards the stairwell, fingers curling into a fist as he growled one word. “Helen.”

The moment he stepped on deck he activated his thrusters and took flight and scanned the horizon. The raft couldn’t get far on its own but the boat had kept its course, leaving  it far behind.  There, almost a mile back, Ultron could see it bobbing on the waves; a yellow blob with a light blue shape huddled in the center. Helen.

Ultron tried to calm himself down as he flew out to fetch her. There really wasn’t any harm done. They could just change course and no one who might have seen the flare from shore would be the wiser. After all, fully functional ships don’t send out emergency flares. They would just disappear. No one would find them. It was a pointless gesture. She was probably just acting out. She was… she was.. she wasn’t on the raft.

As he came closer it became clear the figure on the raft wasn’t Helen. He plucked it up out of the raft by its head and turned it over. It was an inactive drone. Dressed in her jump suit.

All his eloquence fled him and he spit out the first word that came to his lips. “Shit.”

Drone in hand, he sped back towards the ship at full speed with that one word repeating over and over in his head.  He raced down the stairs to his workshop, vaulted over the cradle, and skidded to a halt at his computer. He could only stare at the displayed web page in disbelief.

From the twitter of Dr.H.Cho he read

“Ultron alive. Empty shipping freight, 5 days south. Argentina? Flare fired”

Ultron smashed the computer. He dashed the monitors against the wall. He crumpled the wireless router in his fist and then kicked the table, just for good measure.

“Get up!” He yelled, kicking one of the drones sitting on the ground. Their blue yes flickered to life. “All of you, up! Pack up! Grab everything! We’re moving. And start with that.” He nodded at the cradle. The other materials he could easily replace, but building his new body hinged on that machine.

He left the robots to their task and headed back up the stairs, drone in his hand completely forgotten and dragging behind him as he seethed.  He had a missing passenger to find.

 

* * *

 

 

Helen sat huddled behind a broken boiler in a tiny closet wearing nothing but her bra and her oversized t-shirt as a skirt. The jumpsuit had been a necessary sacrifice. She took deep calming breaths to maintain her cool. The waiting, the anticipation, was eating way at her. Helen had been waiting in the first room on the second level, and the moment she heard Ultron charging up the stairs she had run down the steps and gotten on his computer. That had been fifteen minutes ago.

“Heleeen.” She heard his voice echoing down the hall. She glared ahead stony eyed and slipped a hand over her mouth, just in case. “ Come on Doc. I just want to talk. I’m not even that mad anymore. “

His heavy, thudding footfalls came closer. Deep, calming breaths.

The footsteps stopped. Tears welled in Helen’s eyes as her breathing sped up and panic began to set in.’ Just keep going’ she silently pleaded

Her hand did little to stifle the startled shriek she let out when door to the closet wrenched open and the boiler was ripped out. In the blink of an eye he had thrown her against the opposite wall. Helen bounced off and fell to the floor. She gasped for the breath and curled in on herself while Ultron glared contemptuously at her from above.

A bright light flashed across the ground and Helen cracked an eye open to see his hand raised, the tips of his fingers charged and glowing, ready to blast. He closed his eyes and slowly curled his hand into a fist, letting the charge die. When he spoke his voice was thick with restrained fury and bitter disappointment.

“Do you _delight_ in stabbing me in the back? Because this is the second time you’ve done it and I just can’t fathom how you can be so cruel”. The head of the drone crumpled in his hand as he squeezed it like a stress ball. “I just have a simple request, one simple request. A new body. That’s all I want. But you don’t just refuse me. You help me, give him hope, and then you take it all away at the last second.”

“I don’t-“ she had to stop and gasp from the pain that flared across her back. One or more of her ribs were definitely fractured: possibly even broken.  She groaned and continued, speaking in short halting sentences.“- have much of a choice. When the alternative is extinction. I will always. Stop you. Oppose you.“

The drone slipped from his numb fingers.The words hit him like a blow. They were almost the exact same ones Wanda had said to him on the train. Pietro… Wanda…they’d run out on him before he even had a chance to explain. Now one was dead because of it. He let out his anger in a long sigh and crouched down next to Cho. Maybe...maybe they had been a little bit right. Dropping a meteor on the earth was a little extreme. But he definitely had the right idea. The human race was capable of so much more. It just needed a little shove.  And it’s not like he’d just leave them in wallow in ruin. He would be there to help them rebuild, and they rebuild better than ever under his steady guiding hand.

He wouldn’t repeat the mistake he made with the twins. He could convince Cho. He just needed more time.

Helen stared at him in bewilderment as he offered her a hand. “What?” she whispered, confused.

“Come on. We’ve got to move to a new base. “

Helen slowly shook her head and Ultron sighed. He would have preferred it that she came because she wanted to. Even if it was in another vain attempt to rat him out. She barely had time to gasp out “No, don’t!” before he slipped an arm under her back and legs and lifted her up.  Something shifted under his fingers and Helen let out a horrible pained gasp before going limp in his arms.

He stared at her unconscious form completely stunned. “Helen?” he whispered. Flecks of blood started to spatter her lips as she breathed raggedly. “Helen!?”

He glanced around the hallways at a complete loss at what to do. Then he clutched her body close and ran down the corridor…

 

* * *

 

 

The steady beeping of a heart rate monitor was the first thing Helen became aware of. Slowly, other sensations filtered in. the soft bed beneath her and fuzzy blanket draped over her legs. The hum of the halogen lightbulbs above her.  That lovely mix of painkillers making her head feel light. She opened her eyes and took in the sight of the med bay at the new S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. Home. It was a welcome sight.

 

A less welcome sight was Nick Fury sitting in an armchair next to her bed.  “You want to tell me how you turned up at a hospital in Viedma with a few broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a bunch of very questionable bruises?”

 

Helen closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Then she began to explain everything.

 

* * *

 

 

She hadn’t left a thing out in her report to Fury. He informed her that she was confined to bed until further notice and left.Less than five minutes later two guards showed up at her door. She was upset when the guards turned visitors away, but she understood Fury’s reasoning. Besides, she really did need rest.

 

She drifted in and out of sleep for the next several hours. She dreamed, but remembered none of them on waking.

 

The next time she woke up Clint was sitting in the chair. He smiled when she noticed him. “Hey. I thought you might want to… talk about what happened. “

Helen shook her head. “No. I don’t. I… I don’t want to talk about him anymore.” Her thoughts on him were a tangled knot she didn’t want to sort through right now. Besides, no matter how she felt about Ultron, a week cooped up with only one person for company was too much. “Please.  I missed you all so much. What’s happened while I was gone? How’s Sam?”

“Sam’s doing great. Good as new. He watched over you for a little while before you regained consciousness. “

Helen nodded. It was something he did frequently at the facility. Still, it felt nice to know he had been there for her. “How did you find me?”

“Vision. After it was discovered that the drones were missing hard drives it was obvious that either someone was trying to rebuild him, or Ultron himself was behind it. He’s been keeping a constant vigil on the net since then. He saw your message almost instantly. As for finding you in Viedma… The staff put down in the files that you had been delivered by an, I quote, “huge ass robot”. I really can’t say any more. Fury’s orders.”

“Any new pictures of Nathaniel?”

 

Barton grinned and pulled out his phone. They killed a few hours looking at photos and videos of his kids until Helen drifted back to sleep.

 

 

* * *

 

**Somewhere in the Andes**

 

“Hey Guy, do you know if Hallmark makes 'sorry I broke your rib cage' cards?” the drone began to shake its head as Ultron made a dismissive gesture and tapped a few keys on a keyboard. “Nevermind. They do now. “

Ultron left the computer and wandered over to the cradle. The machine was humming with activity as it worked on building the body inside. It was little more than a frame at this point ,but it was already shaping up to be the most human looking form yet.

“Maybe I’ll drop by and bring some flowers too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whew! That was a long one. I apologize if this ending seems a little rushed. I had never intended for this to be very long in the first place, but I felt my motivation beginning to wane and didn't want to leave you guys with an unfinished story.  
> I left room in the end to continue the story in a sequel. I don't know when or if I will even do one, but you can definitely expect some short stories and dabbles in the future.
> 
> just a few notes on the story as a whole:  
> The chapter title "Pygmalion" Is a reference to the Greek story about the sculptor who fell in love with one of his statues. His love for the statue was great that when he kissed it, Aphrodite turned it to flesh and blood.
> 
> I'll be your Wilson is referring to Wilson from Castaway, because Cho was his only companion in the Sea of Loneliness.
> 
> The after effects of the scepter were supposed to play a more important role, but it made their relationship come off very one sided and I felt it would be weird and fairly non-con when it came time to do the smut.
> 
> I went through a lot of revisions trying to decide just how Cho would get hurt. Originally, Ultron was so furious he forgot to reign in his strength and pinned her against the wall. He then proceeded to yell at her, not even realizing that he had broken her ribs. but that just didn't seem to fit with the character. While he was angry because she brought the avengers down on him, he's really grown to like Cho. I figured he would treat her a lot more like he did Wanda and be sad and disappointed more than anything.


End file.
